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Post by galactic-pirates on Dec 31, 2023 5:38:39 GMT -5
WriYe sign-ups are measured in words. A useful metric but an incomplete one as ultimately it's finished books that really matter. I don't know where this year will take me. I want to aim high but not out of reach. Whatever I do this year will still be progress on my path. With that in mind I'm going to list three levels (and start the year signing with the lowest) as after all small steppy is better than no steppy... Good: 75k Better: 250k Best: 500k
I always want to do all the things but I need to meet myself where I am and start small. I am going to place the writing at #1 on the priority list so while I am sure I will do other things, in January I am making no other demands. If I am succeeding then I can add more later on. I could go into more detail here about how I am approaching the writing but that seemed better suited for the month post. All I really need here right now is the WriYe sign-up number.
Title: Carbon Scars (#1 Macklan Stone) Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller Status: Second Draft / Rewrite Summary: Macklan Stone, mercenary, is working alongside her girlfriend as a private investigator. One day Mack goes home to find a fixer. If Mack doesn't do the job he wants then Ailith is dead. In order to protect Ailith Mack walks away but a few months later is forced to return to save Ailith from a killer. Interrogating him the killer says it was revenge because Mack refused the job. Incensed Mack sets out to destroy the company responsible. She gets the CEO arrested for embezzlement, and then visits his son to draw a line, only to be forced to run as she's accused of murdering the CEO. Now, Mack has to try and clear her name, easier said than done in a world where professionals are hired remotely and it's never clear who is responsible. Title: Riptide (#1 Path of Fire, Fractured Fate verse) Genre: Science Fantasy Status: Reboot Rewrite Complete (awaiting revision) Summary: Aliens descend demanding worship. An old folktale of a portal is seen as a Hail Mary. A small special forces team is dispatched. It's a rough transport and they are all separated when they arrive - in a world of magic. A dragon terrorises the kingdom by the sea, and wizards play games, making our heroes jump through hoops in order to get the promised aid. Searching for a superweapon is so cliche (and unrealistic) but it's the only hope a besieged Earth has, and maybe in a world of magic who is to say it's not possible?
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Slaying dragons
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Post by galactic-pirates on Dec 31, 2023 5:39:29 GMT -5
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Slaying dragons
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Post by galactic-pirates on Dec 31, 2023 5:40:45 GMT -5
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Slaying dragons
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Post by galactic-pirates on Dec 31, 2023 5:42:38 GMT -5
0 / 75,000 words Goal: For at least 90% of designated writing days time four hours of work - Wednesday and (probably) Sunday will never be designated writing days - I must declare the night before (excepting waking up sick) if the upcoming day will be a writing day - The timer starts when I sit down. No 'but I'm not ready to focus' procrastination. I get done whatever I get done. - The time can include reading craft books/making notes, as well as planning, drafting, revising etc. Project: Read and make notes from craft books - I have two new ones with associated workbooks (Structuring Your Novel and Creating Character Arcs) - I also want to go back over the notes I made in the summer to try and get the knowledge in my head Project: TBD - Pick the novel I want to work on first (I have several options) - Then work on it
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I can. Therefore, I will.
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Post by AuthorAsh on Dec 31, 2023 7:30:41 GMT -5
Ahhhh! So many good plans and project this year! I think that your idea of one small steppy is better than none is really wise. Something being done is more words than a blank page and never getting it out there. You've got this!!
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. . .
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Post by Tracey on Dec 31, 2023 12:10:23 GMT -5
Starting with small steps is the best way to do things. It always helps with tackling big tasks. Also, your reading journal is looking good and I can't wait to see what you read in 2024!
Good luck with all of your goals this year!
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Post by ninjakittyofdoom on Dec 31, 2023 16:45:13 GMT -5
Good luck! Small steps are awesome, and I hope you have a better year than you did in 2023.
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Definitely NOT trying to reach 200k before Keri!
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Post by Lokanya on Dec 31, 2023 18:36:14 GMT -5
Good luck! I think you've got a great attitude to approaching this year. You get done what you get done and all words are good words! Words are never fun when they feel like an obligation and not a fun hobby! I am sure you are going to do amazing things this year!
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Post by Helen on Jan 1, 2024 6:24:50 GMT -5
All the best for this year!
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Post by Kandybar on Jan 2, 2024 10:03:30 GMT -5
Let me know if you find any good tips for the "no procrastination get straight to work" plan. I have the worst time with that...
Everything looks amazing! I hope this year goals well!
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Post by auroralynneskye on Jan 5, 2024 21:32:56 GMT -5
I too have trouble with procrastination, but working with a keyboard which refuses to use certain letters until I hit the key twice (or more!) is becoming more and more of a challenge. But enough about my troubles. Small Steppy is a great idea, and is a motto to take to heart, so I hope you don't mind if I borrow it!
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Slaying dragons
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Post by galactic-pirates on Jan 7, 2024 12:54:41 GMT -5
0 / 75,000 words Thanks everyone ❤️ I have decided to try and update every Sunday, unless it’s going to be the end of the month and then I’ll wait a few days. I am doing a weekly review in my planner so it seems to make sense. I have experimented over the years with how to do updates, so we’ll see if this one sticks. Goal: For at least 90% of designated writing days time four hours of work This week was tricky. New Years Day I was tired from having to stay up due to the firework noise, then Thursday mum needed my help to take her Christmas decorations down, Friday was her husbands birthday. So I declared a lot of days ND (non-designated). I didn’t declare that for Friday and regretted it, so that was one day I didn’t make the 4. Given that I did get some hours (not quite 4) on the ‘bonus’ days, it did balance out.
If I’d had 5 designated days (as I hope will be the case most weeks) I should have logged 20 hours. Instead I logged 18, which given the demands of the week is great.
So for the math stats later: 2/3 designated days. Project: Read and make notes from craft books
I read Structuring Your Novel on Monday, and Creating Character Arcs on Tuesday. Neither of them had much brand new information as I had managed to glean much of it from the Writing Your Story’s Theme book (by the same author). I think I would have benefited reading them the other way round (as intended) because it would have made the Theme book more accessible (I had to puzzle out a lot).
It was still a good exercise because the books (and their associated workbooks) contained a lot of questions to help plan/stress test a plan. So this is complete.
Project: TBD I am 90% sure that I will be working on Riptide soon (Book 1 of the reboot series). I have been reading through everything I have on that series to get it back in my head, and analysing what needs to be fixed. I’m still holding off on totally making that decision as I’m still in ‘analysis mode’. I think I won’t be able to put the decision off any longer next week and I will have to lock in one way or another. It’s an intimidating decision because if I want to follow-through on publishing (and I do, I’m just scared), then it makes the most sense to focus totally on one series until it’s complete. So it’s not just Book One I am ‘locking in’, it’s all the books after that too. This series I am rebooting is actually the one I published before, I’m sure if that is a good or bad omen.
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Post by galactic-pirates on Jan 14, 2024 15:09:13 GMT -5
0 / 75,000 words Goal: For at least 90% of designated writing days time four hours of work The hope each week is for 5 designated days, and that’s what I had this week. So I should have logged 20 hours and I actually logged 22 as I went overtime on Monday. It’s bizarre as literally all I did was set my drafts up in NovelPad, and create the Plottr outlines for them. How that took me almost 6 hours is beyond me but I was legit working all the time.
I am a little concerned about balance. I had slipped and even though the 4 hours was supposed to be “whether I was working or not”, I was just timing actual focus hours, and it was untenable. So I’m being stricter (or rather less strict) and permitting comfort breaks/drinks etc. within the time. This does open up more time in the day so theoretically I can do more things but it’s not really working out like that. Intellectually I know this is why I am only making the one demand (the 4 hours) this month as I have to build up to doing more. But part of me wonders if I’ll ever be able to do more /sigh. There’s so many things I want to do.
So for the math stats later: 5/5 designated days. Project: Path of Fire (Books 1 - 3) So I’m actually technically no further forward despite 22 more hours, I am still working out my plot, character arcs, worldbuilding etc. I would have thought that given how much I had established from my 2.5 written drafts, that it would have been quicker but apparently not. I suppose maybe it shows I have learned things in the past few years. There is some severe structural issues I need to fix and I was a bit vague in my details about things. Anyway, while I’m not ‘locked in’ exactly as I haven’t started redrafting (which I assumed would be the moment I committed), I feel committed. I’m waking up and my first thought is the story. That’s super exciting because that hasn’t happened in years and I’m choosing to hope that’s a good sign. So yeah I’m rolling with it. I really hope by this time next week I’ll be able to estimate when I can start actually writing. While I love revision (that and planning are my favourite parts of writing), I do feel like I’m pulling on the leash so to speak. I’m impatient, always have been, and moving onto the next stage will feel like a leap in progress (hopefully). As usual I’m now getting ahead of myself but a small musing about word counting. I suspect very little of the original draft will make it into the new draft unaltered. So unless there are large sections lifted wholesale (and then I won’t count those), I think I will count every word on the draft towards my WriYe goal. It’s getting patched together into basically a brand new novel so that feels right. I am a little… wary. I felt quite positive about the lightbulb revision moments I had re-outlining Carbon Scars, and then it fell apart as I couldn’t conjure words that were any good. I’m a little scared to be honest that when I try and write this book it’ll just come out crap. We’ll see I guess - hopefully soon!
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Post by galactic-pirates on Jan 21, 2024 10:05:02 GMT -5
0 / 75,000 words Goal: For at least 90% of designated writing days time four hours of work The hope each week is for 5 designated days. I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital on Friday but I had such a meltdown about it mum cancelled the appointment. However, I left Friday as not a designated day because mum visited for the afternoon. I still did 3 hours, meaning I got 19/20 of the ‘hoped’ for hours anyway.
So for the math stats later: 4/4 designated days. Project: Path of Fire (Books 1 - 3) 50 hours.
That’s how long it took to get the series back in my head, deep dive the characters, and replot Book One.
I considered continuing and replotting Book Two and Three but that way danger lies. I find the revision/planning part of writing the best bit, the actual writing is much much harder. So I need to bite the bullet and actually start. I am petrified to be honest. Last summer I replotted Carbon Scars, and I was pumped for the new outline, I was so sure that it would make for a stronger story/better book. I started to write and fizzled around the end of Act 1 because the words themselves just felt so awful. It’s all very well to say “I can fix a bad page, not a blank page” but with redrafts that’s a much uneasier statement. At what point should it actually come out acceptable? Monday. That’s when I’m going to start. I’ll report next week how it went. Project: B&W Exchange (Art)Ok so this isn’t part of my goals right now (I am hoping I’ll be able to add Art in later on in the year, I’m trying not to overwhelm myself and build more slowly so it might be sustainable for once). Anyway, I have committed to this and it has a deadline of February 14th. I have poked at it a few times this month: I thought of an idea, I found some references etc. Well today (Sunday) I made an attempt to actually start. I spent 3 hours trying to get the pose. It’s still a mess, not even a line drawing, but I think I have the basic form. I’m a little concerned that I only appear to be working on it some Wednesdays/Sundays (aka my non-designated days) as obviously the deadline looms. I’ve been trying to listen to my brain. The whole point of only making one goal - is one demand. Everything else is gravy. So I do it when I feel like it, but that is now frightening me re: the deadline. I’m hoping next session it will come together a bit more. This early stage is always the hardest part. When I get it to a rendering stage, then my supplies get to come out and that’s always more fun. I’ll probably want to do that a little more haha.
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Post by redwooddryad on Jan 24, 2024 8:20:56 GMT -5
The art exchange sounds like a lot of fun! But certainly challenging - I know I've always struggled a bit with art projects that have deadlines. Best of luck with yours - it sounds like you have a great start! Art sounds like an excellent goal to add, but for now I love how streamlined and focused your goals are. That's a great way to make progress without any distractions.
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